Democrat says this may be right time for budget reform

By Peggy Fikac - Express-News :
May 23, 2010

AUSTIN — It's pretty much assumed the state will have to dip into its rainy-day savings account to help bridge a huge budget shortfall, but Sen.Kirk Watsonjust made the challenge of getting enough votes look a little tougher.

Watson said before he'll vote to spend any of the $8.2 billion expected to be in the fund when lawmakers write the next two-year budget, leaders and lawmakers must first agree to budget reform.

Any opposition is important because budget writers must get a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to spend money from the fund. “It's going to be hard,” said House Appropriations Committee ChairmanJim Pitts, R-Waxahachie.

Watson's an Austin Democrat, so his position highlights the notion that budget writers will have to do more than convince the most conservative Republicans to spend rainy-day money. They'll also have to satisfy Democrats pushing their agendas.

Watson takes issue with tricks like the use of nearly $3.7 billion in levies ostensibly collected for particular purposes – from combating pollution to helping people struggling to pay their electric bills – being used instead to balance the budget. He's concerned about debt. He's alarmed over the continuing effects of the finance package that cut local school property tax rates without raising other state taxes enough to cover the cost.

Watson's position got widespread attention last week when he talked about it to the Texas Tribune's Evan Smith. Watson told me later he's not suggesting that tax money diversions, for example, must stop immediately — but he wants a plan.

“It does cause concerns,” Pitts said. “If we try to start ending diversions this session — we've got a pretty ugly picture already, and if we paint it with things like that, it's going to get uglier. But ... if he has proposals, I'd sure be glad to listen to ‘em.”

Senate Finance Committee ChairmanSteve Ogden, R-Bryan, said, “It's premature to comment until it's clear what our revenue picture's going to be exactly.” But he added, “We're going to need to use some of the rainy-day fund.”

Why insist on budget reform when lawmakers are scrambling to fill a huge hole? “The huge hole is a result of a process that needs to be reformed,” Watson said. “It may be the best time to do it.”

<

Some of GOP Gov.Rick Perry's supporters are puzzling over Democratic challengerBill White's decision to advertise on television so early – not only in Houston, but in select markets in Central, East and West Texas. One estimates that White's spent over $1 million already. While White must introduce himself to voters statewide, they say if he doesn't have the kind of big money needed to stay up consistently through November, he's wasting his dollars because people will forget about this early round of ads. White spokeswoman Katy Bacon doesn't sound worried: “We have a plan to win. We're following that plan.”

***

Just when you thought we could take a break from speculating about U.S. Sen.Kay Bailey Hutchison's future, here come the rumors that she may run for re-election in 2012 after all, despite previous statements to the contrary. The Dallas Morning News'Tom Benning, in an article headlined, “Hutchison ‘hasn't missed a beat' in D.C.,” had this nugget: “She said she hasn't given any thought to whether she will run for re-election in 2012. ”Maria Recio wrote in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that “some politicos are already betting she'll run again in 2012.” When I called Hutchison's office,Lisette Mondello said, “You've got to be kidding me. I don't think she's thinking about this at all. I'm surprised this is coming up, actually.”

***

White's recent confab with a big group of Rio Grande Valley residents spurred buzz about whether it was a “come to Jesus” meeting about his campaign or “one in a series of getting-to-know-Bill gatherings,” my colleagueJoe Holley reports. “He's got a long way to go,” Hidalgo County Democratic chairBilly Leotold Holley. “Rick Perry is a pit bull, so he's got to be aggressive.” Check out the details on Texas Politics.

***

And it's week 11 of waiting for White to release his income tax returns for the time he served as Houston mayor.